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Ebix Inc, a leading international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, on Tuesday announced that one of its India-based EbixCash subsidiaries has acquired a 67 per cent stake in Routier, a Delhi-based B2B marketplace for trucking logistics. Routier is pioneering a cloud-based technology to change the way people move and receive inland goods in India.

Founded by first-generation entrepreneurs and operating team senior executives Ankur Dahiya and Adwait Vikram Singh from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Harvard Law School, respectively, Routier seeks to revolutionise trucking logistics in the same way taxi logistics have been transformed by Uber, Ola and others. Routier aims to drive efficiency for all marketplace stakeholders, using an innovative blend of data analytics, artificial intelligence and end-to-end streamlined functionality available over the cloud.

With clients like Coca-Cola, Asian Paints, and Samsung, Routier’s marketplace is already proving its ability to add efficiency to freight movement. The EbixCash investment was driven by Routier’s desire for a strategic investor who could provide added technology expertise, financial strength and brand recognition to accelerate its penetration of major trucking logistics. Routier is the first start-up where Ebix has made a strategic investment.

With a market opportunity expected to reach $300 billion by 2020, Routier looks to drive productivity and transparency through a transportation sector long considered one of the most inefficient. Routier’s online cloud-based logistics marketplace connects companies that require their goods to be delivered (shippers), typically with small trucking companies who account for 75% of the freight transportation business (carriers); allowing the carriers the ability to win a shipper’s business by bidding from any smartphone, hand-held device or computer.

Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina said, “Exchanges and marketplaces are meant to provide a network effect that drives efficiency for all concerned and are best targeted at industries that are highly inefficient and lack technology savvy. India’s trucking industry is a perfect example of such an opportunity to deliver tremendous value and efficiency, and thus we are quite excited to be partnering with Routier in its mission to redefine the trucking logistics industry.

Robin added, “Routier recently secured multi-million dollar commitments from a few large multinational corporations, and thus needed the backing of Ebix in terms of technology expertise, manpower and working capital to implement and scale these and other opportunities. We are excited to invest in this pioneering effort at an opportune time, and look forward to building what could be a large marketplace for the trucking industry.”

Routier Founder Ankur Dahiya said, 'Technology can serve as key disruptive force in the logistics sector. Routier aims to use Data Science as a key enabler to organize the fragmented market. By match-making supply and demand, even if we can use 30% of unutilized capacity, we can cause a major positive impact in the Industry in terms of productivity and profitability both.'

Routier Co-Founder Adwait Vikram Singh said, “Routier has the potential to rationalize the Logistics sector not only in India but also for the global markets. Currently, Routier operates only in inland logistics but eventually aims to become a key player in streamlining cross border freight movement on a single enterprise marketplace platform. Routier has the vision to become an End-to-End supply chain network, that can handle freight movement to last mile delivery, for transportation across country borders."